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The Music Guild’s latest event highlights the growing talent of BC’s independent musicians, A8
Florida State dashed the football team’s upset hopes on Saturday with a late field goal, B1
A BC alum brings classic sandwiches back home, B10
www.bcheights.com
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Vol. XCV, No. 47
HEIGHTS
THE
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Monday, November 24, 2014
Former, current BC fellowship applicants emphasize early prep BY JULIE ORENSTEIN Assoc. News Editor Editor’s note: This story is the third and final part of an ongoing series about fellowships advising at Boston College.
T
he road to winning a major national fellowship or scholarship does not begin—in many cases—during a student’s junior or senior year of college. At Boston College, prospective candidates for prestigious awards such as the Rhodes, Marshall, or Truman scholarships or Fulbright grants often start as early as their freshman or sophomore years, learning to write research proposals and personal statements through applications for Advanced Study Grants (ASGs) or Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URFs). An early start not only prepares students to articulate a focused, clear vision in their application essays, but also gives them time to develop relationships with faculty and other mentors, individuals who will provide vital letters of recommendation. Narintohn Luangrath, BC ’14, who won a Truman Scholarship in 2013 and was a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships in 2014, said that pursuing two ASGs and three URFs as an underclassman helped foster the kind of
thinking she needed for her later fellowship applications, in which students are asked to provide details on the career path they hope to follow. “I think that the ASGs and URFs were all important in getting me thinking about interesting research questions and relatedly, what I wanted to do professionally after Boston College,” Luangrath said in an email. Robbie Kubala, BC ’09, won a Marshall Scholarship and noted that accumulating awards such as ASGs beginning in his freshman year gave him the confidence to apply for larger, international fellowships. Students are only able to start considering fellowship opportunities early on in their college careers if they are made aware of those opportunities, though. Many applicants hear about different fellowships through the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program (PSP), its director, Rev. James Keenan, S.J., and their individual PSP faculty mentors. “A lot of BC kids don’t know enough about fellowships, but with the Presidential Scholars, it’s the opposite—we hear too much about them,” said Paul Davey, A&S ’15, who applied for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Germany. Davey said that he only applied for a Fulbright because he knew that other fellowships did not apply to him and his interests and qualifications—an aware-
ness that Keenan said the Presidential Scholars have because they have so much exposure to the various opportunities. Outside of the PSP and the German studies department, however, Davey said that he did not hear about the Fulbright program. He said he was particularly encouraged by Michael Resler, professor and chair of the German studies department, who also serves as a Fulbright advisor and helped BC establish an institutional legacy for producing numerous Fulbright winners annually, especially for positions in Germany. In the spring of 2013, the German studies department hit the milestone of having sent over 100 Fulbright scholars to Germany and Austria, ranking BC among the top producers of Fulbright winners for those countries, as well as Fulbright grants overall. “The Fulbright program is very well developed ... it’s definitely a fellowship where BC is on top of its game and knows what needs to be done when, and I think that really contributes to the success we’ve had with Fulbrights across the board, not just with Germany,” Davey said. Alicia McKean, LSOE ’15, who was a Rhodes finalist this year and participated in her final interview this past weekend, said Keenan brought up the idea of her
See Fellowships, A3
DOS clarifies updates with UGBC, OSI
B Y A NDREW S KARAS Heights Editor Last night, the Student Assembly (SA) voted 32-0 with two abstentions to confirm Connor Bourff, vice president of Student Initiatives (VPSI) and A&S ’15, as the new executive vice president (EVP) of UGBC. He replaces Chris Marchese, A&S ’15, who stepped down from the position last week after being compelled to do so by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) because he was no longer in good standing with the University after a conduct violation. After updates from the committee chairs, Mike Rosella, president pro tempore of the Student Assembly and
BY JENNIFER SUH Heights Staff
BY CONNOR FARLEY News Editor
See Student Guide, A3
UGBC confirms Bourff as new Executive VP A&S ’15, called the meeting into open forum. Olivia Hussey, chair of the Campus Climate Committee and A&S ’17, made a motion to confirm Bourff as EVP and to reevaluate Marchese for the role of EVP at the beginning of the second semester, which was seconded by several senators. As she could not be present, UGBC president Nanci Fiore-Chettiar, A&S ’15, sent a letter that was read aloud. In the letter, she offered an apology for how the Executive Council (EC) had handled Bourff ’s appointment and set forth a plan for changes to the Constitution to prevent such a mistake from happening again.
See EVP Confirmation, A3
Jeff Chang talks race in literature at Lowell Series
UGBC to collaborate with DOS to reform BC Student Guide
Last week saw the resignation of UGBC’s former executive vice president (EVP) Chris Marchese, A&S ’15, and with it, a flawed process of executive succession. Amid initial allegations of having left office for “personal reasons,” Marchese later reported having been forced out of the EVP post by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) over disagreements regarding leadership qualifications set forth by the Student Organizations Manual. He subsequently detailed that those disagreements were the result of his disciplinary standing with the University following multiple conductrelated sanctions. According to the outgoing-EVP Marchese, the Dean of Students Office (DOS) made substantial revisions to the Student Guide over the summer without any advising or collaboration from UGBC members. Those changes were said to have included major overhauls to the handling of disciplinary matters—namely undergraduate alcohol use and different levels of probation for sanctions against students. Associate Dean of Students Richard DeCapua issued a letter dated Sept. 2 to students via email regarding changes made to four specific sections of the Student Guide: hazing policy, sexual
EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR
At last night’s Student Assembly meeting, Connor Bourff, A&S ’15, was approved as EVP.
ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS STAFF
Last Wednesday, the Lowell Humanities Series hosted poet Jeff Chang to discuss his works.
“This is the most important question of your lifetimes, I’d say,” said Jeff Chang, the author of Who We Be: The Colorization of America, in his talk on Wednesday, Nov. 19 for the Lowell Humanities Series. “It’s right up there with the question of the environmental crisis that we’re all facing. If we are all minorities, how do we begin to imagine a new majority?” Chang is the executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University and received his master’s degree in Asian-American studies from UCLA. He has written for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, and Foreign
Policy, among other publications. Who We Be: The Colorization of America is Chang’s third book and was released in October. His book addresses the issue of race over the last 50 years and the colorization of America through demographic and cultural shifts. His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, was released in 2005 and won the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. “What is special about Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is not only that it’s capable of taking popular culture seriously and making sense of it in such a capacious, generous, and syn
See Chang, A3
Last Saturday, the BC football team lost 17-20 to the Florida State Seminoles, B1
EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR